Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine (review)

Quiet, shy middle-schooler Adam struggles a bit with peer interactions, especially those that involve girls. He’s initially frustrated, therefore, by the intrusion of a girl, Alice, into his peaceful summer at his grandma’s idyllic lakefront property. The athletic but somewhat geeky Alice is staying at the cabin next door, and she turns out to be such a splendid companion that Adam comes to look forward to the time spent with her, especially as it takes him away from the tension in the cabin between his tough but increasingly forgetful grandmother and his worried mother. When Adam’s grandmother begins leaving strange notes in his bedroom (written as though she is still a young woman and addressed to someone called “G”) and he finds a “treasure map” among her files, he and Alice try to identify the mysterious person from his grandma’s past and find the treasure that “G” hid many years ago. Although a relatively happy ending is in store, it’s also somewhat bittersweet, as Adam’s grandma isn’t actually going to get better and Adam is forlorn at the prospect of parting from Alice. St. Antoine effectively evokes the visceral pull that nature and special summer places can have, and she understatedly examines the sometimes tricky navigation of middle-school boy-girl relationships. Adam’s narration is thoughtful and generally credible (his palpable discomfort with his grandmother’s worsening condition is particularly well drawn), and the kids who would rather go on a nature hike than play team sports will especially relate to him. Readers can save this contemplative read for a rainy summer day, enjoy it on the lakefront beach, or hang out with it in a hammock.